This week is going to be a whirlwind. We left Germany last Saturday around noon in one time zone and arrived in the USA in the afternoon of another. We made the long, slow trek though the airport customs line with our bird, Koopa, who passed his USDA inspection with flying colors. Since we had to fly to an airport near Washington DC instead of the one closest to our home in Charlotte (because it was the only […]
Author: Ava
One Year Without All the Small Stuff.
This is the fourth post in the blog series One Year Without. See all of the posts here. Moving abroad, giving up our cars, going without community – those were all huge life changes. But what about all the small stuff that we went without? All the smaller comforts of home that we left behind had a big impact on our comfort levels and approach to minimalism as well. I’ll break down all the small stuff that we missed the most during our […]
Differences Between Germany and the USA.
Our impending departure (#3daystoUSA) is making me think about all the ways my life is about to change. In fact, my mental list of the differences between Germany and the USA started growing so long I decided to write them all out. I’m sharing this thought provoking list partially because I’m exhausted and sick from the past week of moving related stress (and, sadly, a week behind on my current blog series as a result). I’m sure I’ll notice even […]
Are These Really My People?
“Yeah, the fool bought himself a big ol’ king size bed that don’t even fit in his bedroom.” My ears were drawn like a magnet to the English language. I listened to the group walking being me as they spoke loudly with strong southern drawls. There were Americans in Schweinfurt – I had inadvertently found some of my people! I wanted to turn around and ask, “Where are y’all from?” but I hesitated, thinking maybe I’d come across too strong […]
Blog Series: One Year Without.
A blog series about living abroad, embracing minimalism, and what we learned by going without. 1| Introducing One Year Without: A Blog Series. 2| One Year Without a Vehicle. 3| One Year Without Community. 4| One Year Without All the Small Stuff. 5| What We Couldn’t Do Without During Our Year Abroad. 6| What We Gained by Owning Less Stuff. Photo Credits: Featured photo by Trekking Rinjani licensed under CC BY 2.0. Modifications made my My Meena Life. Vertical images: 1) Photo by Marsha licensed under CC BY-NC […]
One Year Without Community.
This is the third post in the blog series One Year Without. See all of the posts here. Over the past few years we’ve been slowly sliding downhill, shifting further away from friends and family, until we finally hit bottom when we moved abroad. At least, that is what it felt like. Mr. Meena and I both spent several years in our college town surrounded by a church community and friends who felt like family, and we greatly missed that support system […]
One Year Without a Vehicle.
This is the second post in the blog series One Year Without. See all of the posts here. We gave up our habit of driving daily when we moved to Germany without a vehicle. For the past year we’ve either walked, used public transport, or used a rental car. In fact, we only spent 19 days driving over the last year. It was a pretty big life change for us. So what was it like? The planning stage. The first step […]
Expat Frustration (Also Known As: Germany Makes Things Hard).
With only 24 days to USA, we’ve been dealing with various problems that tend to accompany an international move. However, one situation has been particularly difficult. Let me start at the beginning. One year ago we were brand new expats, being picked up by our relocation agent to go get German drivers licenses just a few days into our first week in Germany. I remember walking into the foreign waiting area and later being ushered into a surprisingly private office where we […]
Introducing One Year Without: A Blog Series.
This is the first post in the blog series One Year Without. See all of the posts here. Today marks one year since we arrived in Germany. It’s an appropriate time to reflect on something that has meant a lot to us over the past year and had an impact on shaping our future together, which is our desire to embrace a life of minimalism. In order to prepare for our move to Germany we put approximately 90% of our belongings into […]
Taking a Tour of Auschwitz.
I was not prepared to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. I bought tickets in advance, saved the address, and arrived early. I asked others about their visit and educated myself about the history. Still, I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into. I was unprepared for the shock of human depravity – for confronting a site where mass human extermination occurred. But I was also unprepared for, and unexpectedly shocked by, my encounters with the people taking the […]